Oi Nuclear Plant Occupied By Protesters

One more update: Iori at Fukushima Diary has some translated tweets and photos people took during the protest.
“We found police crying. I asked one of the riot police officers if he’s actually against the restart of nuclear plant, he turned to me and slightly nodded to bear up in tragedy. There were numbers of times when I couldn’t stop my tears.”

UPDATE: LAST ONE: The protest is over. Everyone packed up and left. No arrests, No injuries. The gates have been unchained. Photo is people all together walking away from the police line.

Update: 11:38pm Japan time. Protesters and drummers are still there as is the police line. People showing no intent on leaving. There were rumors police were going to remove people but it appears that has not happened. The row of vans chained across the gate are still there. NY Times is now reporting the protest. Twitter reports cite that the workers to restart the reactor were brought in by ferry to the sea docks. The protests made broadcast news in Germany, ARD broadcast the protest on their news. The video is online via ARD Germany
German media, ZDF was also there and published this report. There is also a video in the ZDF page. Some comments made, the doctor says the “rolling blackout” threat was invented by the govt to get the nukes online again. The town assembly man Hiroyuki Kawai Osaka govmt advisor (with glasses) says the stress tests are “bullshit”.

Update: More people with instruments and drums. Quite a few small children in attendance now. Crowd is huge and peaceful people dancing. Police have changed into body armor. Lots of images added to the bottom of the page

Update: A large contingent of older people just showed up. It is raining again. People dancing on the front gate. Some images of the vehicles parked sideways to block the gate are added at the bottom of this post.

Update: Various people via twitter asking for more people to show up at Oi to help with the blockade. Rumor of a 9pm restart of the plant.

At the entrance of the Oiigenpatsu are 5000 people gathered outside Oi nuclear plant entrance since yesterday evening more than 5,000 people gathered from all over the country have prevented me from running again all night long yesterday.

Update: it is quiet yet protesters and police stand face to face. Not sure what will happen next. Reports that the police kicked a woman protester. An older man talking at the police: We do not behave violently. We are not stupid. We want to discuss it with KEPCO. ”

Update: things near the gate have become tense with police. People are claiming unnecessary violence from police. Police are shouting something from PA system. New pictures at bottom of page. 3 current live streams on 1 page can be found here.

The only road in and front gate of the Oi nuclear plant in Japan is blocked with a large group of protesters that have set up camp. Oi is in the process of restarting and is expected to begin full operation again on a few hours. The protesters have set up a band who have been playing while people dance. It can be seen on IWJ channel here live. More live video of the standoff can be found here.

The live video connection has been in and out but that is not surprising considering Oi is in a remote location. More on the situation at Oi as we hear it. Images as they are captured will be added to this page.

Photo: Ryusaku Tanaka

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